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Further Reading

Last week, Valve announced it would be bringing Steam's long-standing in-home streaming functions to mobile platforms, letting users play games running on a PC via a tablet, mobile phone, or Apple TV on the same network. We got a chance to test out a beta version of that new mobile Steam Link app this week, ahead of today's launch on Android 5.0+ devices and an iOS launch that has been delayed "pending further review from Apple." We found that, on mobile, in-home Steam streaming is still a passable solution for playing away from your office chair, provided you have the right game and the right network setup.

The Steam Link app itself is relatively straightforward. After asking you to sync a controller (a Steam Controller or any generic bluetooth input will work), it scans the network for computers running Steam. The first time you connect to any given computer, you have to enter a four-digit code to prove the connection is wanted (and possibly install some Steam driver updates to enable the stream).

After that, you can start streaming Steam's "Big Picture" mode to your mobile device as long as the host computer is on, connected to the network, and running Steam (no remote startup options here). You can also back out to a full desktop view, if you really want to, and bring up an on-screen keyboard and mouse pointer for full control of the desktop.

Valve isn't kidding when it says a Wi-Fi router in the 5Ghz band is required for wireless streaming. I first tested iPad streaming on the low-end 2.4Ghz router provided with my Verizon FiOS subscription (an Actiontec MI424WR), with a wired Ethernet connection to my Windows gaming rig on the other end. The Steam Link network test warned me that "your network may not work well with Steam Link," thanks to 1- to 2-percent frame loss and about 15ms of "network variance," depending on when I tested. Even graphically simple games like The Binding of Isaac ran at an unplayably slowed-down rate on this connection, with frequent dropped inputs to boot.

Switching over to a 5GHz tri-band router (The Netgear Nighthawk X6, to be precise), the same network test reported a "fantastic" connection that "look[s] like it will work well with Steam." On this router, remotely played games ran incredibly smoothly at the iPad's full 1080p resolution, with total round-trip display latency ranging anywhere from 50 to 150ms, according to Steam Link's reports (and one-way "input lag" of less than 1ms). At that level of delay, playing felt practically indistinguishable from playing directly on the computer, with no noticeable gameplay impact even on quick-response titles like Cuphead.

The extremely basic front-end interface that gets you into a world of PC game streaming.

Just like other in-home streaming options, you can toggle between prioritizing quality and speed.

Come on, big money, big money, no whammies....

On a nearby 5GHz router, the Network test was extremely happy with me.

On a completely wired connection on both ends, the "Fantastic!" actually went down to a more limited "Great!"

Oh snap! That 2.4GHz router is not up to streaming!

The underrated Super Puzzle Platformer and other low-end games stream easily and with no apparent difference from the local play.

A high-end game like Doom suffered from frequent stutters and frame rate dips in our streaming test.

Playing far from the router resulted in a lot of multi-second unplayable freezes, like this (see performance graph).

Even on a "fantastic" in-home network Wi-Fi environment, though, the quality of the mobile streaming depended a lot on the resolution and visual detail of the game being played. Streaming a title like the supremely underrated Super Puzzle Platformer to my iPad Air only required about 4,000Kbps of my router's bandwidth, according to Steam Link's reports, and ran without a hitch. A game like 2016's Doom reboot, on the other hand, needed more like 12,000Kbps of overhead, which led to some intermittent screen tearing and split-second stuttering at especially intense points.

Wireless range could also end up being an issue with 5GHz Wi-Fi. Playing in the same room as the 5GHz router, I was able to maintain a solid connection with only the intermittent problems mentioned above. Testing in my bedroom two floors away, though, I found the generally solid connection would often drop out completely for seconds at a time, effectively freezing my view of the game as the network struggled to catch up. When the streaming resolved itself a few seconds later, I was often lost, damaged, or dead in whatever title I was playing.

We also tested the Steam Link app on an Apple TV with both sides on a Wired Ethernet connection. Though the app's usual metrics didn't work on this version of the app, the performance seemed comparable to the 5GHz Wi-Fi, complete with regular stuttering on high-end games. Attempts to test streaming from a Wi-Fi-connected MacBook to a Wi-Fi-connected iPad failed due to Steam controller driver issues on the Mac.

Even in the best conditions we were able to test, our mobile devices weren't quite able to provide the indistinguishable-from-the-desktop "portable monitor" streaming experience we wanted in all cases. But with the right networking hardware, the new Steam Link app provides a handy, low-friction way to sneak in some passable PC gaming anywhere from the bedroom to the bathroom.

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Kyle Orland
Kyle is the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica, specializing in video game hardware and software. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He is based in the Washington, DC area. Emailkyle.orland@arstechnica.com//Twitter@KyleOrl

120 Reader Comments

In addition to running it on a Galaxy S7, I'm going to try it on an LG Optimus L90 (a 3 year old bargain bin smartphone that actually functions as a fantastic TV remote with an older Sony Bravia and a Windows 10 HTPC with Kodi).

If it can work on that outdated piece of junk, it would certainly work on a Raspberry Pi.

Streaming tech is neat but why would anyone want to play PC games on a tiny screen?

1) Some Android devices have larger displays than some PCs. One of my experiments is going to be streaming from a laptop to my HDTV.

2) For some games, it can be good to at least keep an eye on the game while moving around. The example I was just discussing with my officemate, who is a Civ fanatic, was a turn-based game like (at least some versions of) Civ -- you can for example go answer the doorbell for pizza and not worry about missing when it's time for your own turn again.

I am sure many other people can think of other examples where it's useful, and I'm even sure that over 40% of those examples won't involve a toilet.

Not a fan of doing anything "wireless" with respect to gaming. This isn't a "replace your gaming monitor with Steam Link" thing, so it's probably fairly innocuous.

Unfortunately, with my eyesight, gaming on any screen smaller than two square feet would be like playing video games by Braille. And the thought does occur that I have much more urgent things to do in the bathroom than play a video game.

Not dissing it, it's just not a thing that has any foreseeable use in my life.

Now, if it would stream my OTHER stuff besides gaming, then it would be something to look at.

Now, if it would stream my OTHER stuff besides gaming, then it would be something to look at.

I think it will. But if you're not talking about gaming specifically, why do you need it to? I've found Microsoft's own RDP client works wonderfully for non-gaming applications, on iOS or Android, and for "streaming" MacOS or Linux, I've had luck with VNC clients.

If you're talking about media, better to stream the actual media with something like Plex than to try and stream a PC's display during playback.

Those would be very nice, but for me, a port to the Nintendo Switch would add the most utility.

Consoles are great if you're outputting to an HDTV, and have great controllers. Mobile devices are great for portable displays, but tend to have sucky controls. The Switch is portable and has good controls by default.

I also can't see Microsoft or Sony allowing it. Nintendo might be too tech-inept (look at how they're STILL doing online chat via phone app) to make it happen, but from a business-case standpoint, PC gaming is probably more likely to be paired with a Nintendo console whereas it's probably more in direct competition to Microsoft and Sony...I know Microsoft has Play Anywhere but the PC versions of the game aren't through Steam, right?

Now, if it would stream my OTHER stuff besides gaming, then it would be something to look at.

I think it will. But if you're not talking about gaming specifically, why do you need it to? I've found Microsoft's own RDP client works wonderfully for non-gaming applications, on iOS or Android, and for "streaming" MacOS or Linux, I've had luck with VNC clients.

If you're talking about media, better to stream the actual media with something like Plex than to try and stream a PC's display during playback.

Exactly. Remote desktop applications are fine for screen sharing, but the screen refresh is useless for video or interactive media. Plex, Kodi, a shared network storage device - whatever, they're all better than screen sharing in this use case.

My Steam Link is one of my favorite additions to my home theater setup. I've played all of Ni No Kuni II, Dark Souls II & III, Darksiders, and many other controller friendly games through it. The only issue I've ever had with it was when I realized that putting the TV in Gaming mode really does make a big difference in terms of display lag. The Dark Souls games in particular went from some obvious, and death dealing, lag to being almost perfect. I'm also using a Xbox 360 controller, wasn't interested in the Steam Controller, that was recognized and works without issue.

Okay, Steam Controller is bought. I needed to pick one up anyway for testing purposes, so now that I can play DOOM or MGS5 on the big TV or iPad, that's icing on the cake...

Doom + Steam Controller fells better than mouse+keyboard, to me. But be patient with the controller, learning to play with your thumb on the trackpad for mouselook, and then moving your wrists to aim, takes a LOT of getting used to. Once you learn it, though, it's so comfortable and feels so innate -- making microadjustments to your aim with your wrists -- that going back to the mouse takes adjusting of its own. I love this controller, but it's not for everyone. Patience makes perfect though.

Okay, Steam Controller is bought. I needed to pick one up anyway for testing purposes, so now that I can play DOOM or MGS5 on the big TV or iPad, that's icing on the cake...

Doom + Steam Controller fells better than mouse+keyboard, to me. But be patient with the controller, learning to play with your thumb on the trackpad for mouselook, and then moving your wrists to aim, takes a LOT of getting used to. Once you learn it, though, it's so comfortable and feels so innate -- making microadjustments to your aim with your wrists -- that going back to the mouse takes adjusting of its own. I love this controller, but it's not for everyone. Patience makes perfect though.

So I've used Steam Streaming from my gamebox to an Apple MBP (even with a dedicated GPU, the dedicated gamebox is far more powerful) and I played solid for a couple of hours over wireless (5GHz) without a few short pauses (wasn't playing FPS, so it was fine). For my home office, I simply hooked up my 4KTV to my gamebox via fiber HDMI now (for 4K play), so I haven't tried streaming in a while.

However, this makes game play possible throughout the house as all my AppleTVs are wired. However, since only the 4K ones have gigabit (4th generation is only 100Mbps), I may have to shuffle them around a bit.

BTW, did Ars test with a 4K AppleTV? That might make a significant difference.

Those would be very nice, but for me, a port to the Nintendo Switch would add the most utility.

Consoles are great if you're outputting to an HDTV, and have great controllers. Mobile devices are great for portable displays, but tend to have sucky controls. The Switch is portable and has good controls by default.

I also can't see Microsoft or Sony allowing it.

Sony, I can't comment, but Microsoft these days? I wouldn't be sure. They for example allow a third-party AirPlay/Miracast receiver to be installed on the XboxOne. (It also apparently does Google Cast, but I haven't tested that myself.)

(I've got it installed, and for some applications, it's actually better than doing AirPlay streaming to the 4K AppleTV that's connected to the same 4K TV via a different input. Why? It allows multiple sources at once. You can stream two different portrait-mode displays to it, and it'll show them both side-by-side. I've used it to show my tablet and my phone at the same time, and also my and my wife's tablets another time.)

Streaming tech is neat but why would anyone want to play PC games on a tiny screen?

Reminds me of David Lynch's thoughts about watching a movie on a phone: “It’s such a sadness that you think you’ve seen a film on your fucking telephone. Get real.”

The reason is portability, same reason people like the Nintendo Switch. Yeah, you're confined to a 5Ghz network, but that still lets you move around easier than disassembling and reassembling your gaming rig.

Streaming tech is neat but why would anyone want to play PC games on a tiny screen?

Reminds me of David Lynch's thoughts about watching a movie on a phone: “It’s such a sadness that you think you’ve seen a film on your fucking telephone. Get real.”

The reason is portability, same reason people like the Nintendo Switch. Yeah, you're confined to a 5Ghz network, but that still lets you move around easier than disassembling and reassembling your gaming rig.

I get it. And that's great for folks who enjoy playing games on a small, portable device. For me, games are immersive and big, and the experience is lost on a small device.

Those little dedicated Steam Link boxes work pretty well and don't add much entertainment center clutter. They get discounted pretty steeply from time to time.

I think it's also important to note that Microsoft and Sony already had their own native game streaming solutions cooked up for these consoles, and even if Valve did discuss the idea with them it's possible they would have received pushback. With their implementations the console is supposed to be the host machine, not the streaming client.

And hey, Valve can score some extra money if they force you to buy hardware, so there's that.

My two cents on the Steam Link: Buyer beware that it's usually unplayable over wifi. Also Linux support on host machines is flaky, some desktop environments have serious issues with the overlay.

Streaming tech is neat but why would anyone want to play PC games on a tiny screen?

Reminds me of David Lynch's thoughts about watching a movie on a phone: “It’s such a sadness that you think you’ve seen a film on your fucking telephone. Get real.”

I understand this if it's about the sound output rather than the picture. But phones these days have pretty good quality screens, and you can connect decent speakers to a phone via the headset jack or bluetooth (if you want surround sound, you shouldn't be looking for a phone).

The issue I have with the statement when it comes to the display, though, is the fact that the physical size of the screen only matters relative to the distance of your eyes. Phones tend to be close to your eyes. TVs and monitors are placed further away. In effect, holding your smartphone a foot away from your face means the amount of your vision occluded by the screen isn't that far off from your 27" monitor sitting a few feet from your face.

It's personal preference, ultimately, but bigger doesn't mean more immersive unless part of the screen starts being cut off in your peripheral vision.